Revenge is sweet served with a dose of insanity
by Airwalker88
Summary: For two years peace had been a friendly entity throughout the four nations. Or so everyone thought. Kataang and slight Tokka. *Back from very long hiatus*
1. Chapter 1

I can't believe after almost 2 years of reading fics on this site I'm finally writing one of my own. Let's just say it's about damn time.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, I do however own a car with a mad Avatar State sticker on the back windscreen, o yeah.

Anyway, here we go.

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 1**

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For two years peace had been a friendly entity throughout the four nations. Or so everyone thought. 

"I've got you now, HA!" Sokka dove into the bush, only to find that once again his prey had eluded him. "Damn it! How do they get away so fast." Movement in the bush to his right caught his attention and once again he executed a somewhat clumsy dive into the small shrub. "O COME ON! Toph, you can see em right? What are they?" Toph, who had been leaning up against a tree for the last twenty minutes enjoying the show was beginning to have trouble containing her laughter. She fought to fight down a giggle before answering. "Yeah I can see them, I think they're rabbitsquirels, there's heaps of them all over the place." She put her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh as Sokka lunged for another bush. She shifted her concentration to the hill off to her right and smirked before bringing her attention back to the increasingly furious warrior.

Aang looked out the corner of his eyes at Katara. She had a devious grin on her face and her eyes were narrowed in a way that Aang thought of as incredibly seductive. They had been crouching there in the thick scrub for almost half an hour. Being the start of summer it was quite humid and warm, even in the shade and the slight sheen of sweat on Katara's face and arms was making the airbender even hotter. He watched her hands as they once again began to twist and dance out in front of her. He laughed to himself as he remembered what it was they were doing. The idea had come to him about an hour ago while they were waterbending in the nearby stream.

"Katara. Aang. KATARA!!" Sokka had woken to find his sister and friend absent from their campsite, which struck him as a little weird since lately both Aang and Katara usually slept fairly late waking up quite a while after himself and Toph. He figured since Katara was obviously already up she might as well get to making the breakfast. His stomach growled again as if to remind him of the reason he was searching for the two benders. "KATARA! AANG! KATA." "SOKKA SHUT UP!!!" He huffed as he came to the ledge of a small cliff. A path to his left led him down to a small stream. He would have thought it was quite pretty, if he wasn't so frustrated, annoyed and hungry.

The causes of his annoyance were standing in the middle of the stream in their usual waterbending outfits passing a stream of water back and forth to one another. He narrowed his eyes at the two, knowing that they knew he was there but refusing to acknowledge his presence. "HEY!" Katara and Aang turned around to find the very irate water tribe teen glaring coldly at them from the bank.

"What? You know you probably just woke up the entire forest."

"If you guys heard me calling for you why didn't you answer earlier? I wake up to find you and airhead gone and there's no breakfast ready and"

"Breakfast! That's what this is about, your stupid stomach? How come you can't for once just make your own damn breakfast, why do I always have to do it?"

"Look, its just the way things are, I catch the food, you cook the food, it's as simple as that." Aang saw the rage building in Katara and decided that this was a good time to intervene, before any unnecessary blood was spilled.

"Guys come on. Sokka we're sorry we left without telling you," Katara whipped her head around to look at Aang, she had a look of shock and hurt on her face. Aang was supposed to be on her side, how could he betray her like this. "And we would have made breakfast before we left but there was no food and we thought that you'd probably want some meat so we decided to wait until you woke up to go catch something." Katara was about to water whip the treacherous airbender before her dim wit brother decided to dig himself in even deeper.

"Yeah well next time you two wanna go frolicking off to play in a puddle let me know. You know I freak out if I don't know where everyone is, there's still rebel firebenders out there that would love to knock off the Avatar. I swear, you two and your stupid water magic." Sokka turned and made a rather dramatic exit leaving the avatar and a really pissed off waterbender.

"What the hell was that Aang? What are you doing giving that pig headed idiot the satisfaction of thinking he was right?" Katara was surprised to see that instead of cowering from her little rage attack a mischievous grin had worked its way onto Aang's face. The look of anger on her own turned to one of confusion. "What?"

"I think it's time we practiced a little plant bending."

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Authors note: So what do you think, please review and please, be brutal, i'd appreciate the criticism.

I just wanna say thanks to Nutshak, you little trooper, you helped me big time with getting this story off the ground.


	2. Distractions

Thanks everyone for the reviews, I'm surprised and pleased that people actually think my story doesn't suck. Yet.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, I do however own a car with a mad Avatar State sticker on the back windscreen, o yeah.

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 2**

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As if reading his mind (which wasn't all that uncommon between the two these days) Katara picked up on what Aang was thinking and that same mischievous grin wormed its way onto her face. 

When they got back to camp they found to their delight that Sokka was sharpening his boomerang, clearly about to go hunting. He didn't look up when they walked past him, past Toph, past Appa and Momo and out of the clearing. As soon as they were out of site they started running towards the hill where they'd be able to get a good view of the campsite. The scrub was reasonably thick so they didn't have to try too hard to hide themselves. Once they had a suitable spot they settled in and waited. Ten minutes later, after Sokka had finally finished sharpening his boomerang… "He's gunna sharpen that thing into nothing before too long." Katara laughed at Aang's comment before readying herself to get underway with project 'Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity'. Aang had come up with the name on their way back to camp, at first Katara had dubbed the mission 'Piss off that stupid arse hat', but she liked Aang's better so they went with that.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!" Sokka had yet again just thrown himself into a bush in a desperate attempt to catch the little cretin which continued to elude his blade. Aang had thought Sokka would have given up by now but no, he just seemed to be getting more determined by the minute. As humorous as it was messing with the older water tribe boy it was starting to get boring. For Aang at least, Katara was enjoying every second of it, infact she was so focused on shitting off her brother she didn't notice as Aang shuffled closer to her and started blowing air on her neck.

It didn't really catch her off guard or surprise her, he did this so often that it felt normal, really really good, but normal.

"Aang you'll make me loose my concentration." She was surprised that he actually stopped, usually it took a lot more protesting or actual force. This was usually the case when he did it while she was cooking dinner or while they were attending one of the many meetings they now attended. There was nothing more frustrating then sitting in a three hour long boring as meeting with a bunch of old guys discussing trade and economy, with a really bored airbender sitting next to you and using you as a subject on which to relieve his boredom. There's also nothing more embarrassing then shrieking and jumping up in your chair during a meeting due to the fact that said airbenders hand had found its way a little too high up your leg. She went back to focusing on the small plants around the campsite and bending them so that it looked like an animal was moving them. Her concentration however was broken once again quite suddenly when Aang began to place wet kisses from her shoulder up to her neck and back again.

Katara tried as hard as she could to ignore it and keep her hold on the plants. She succeeded in doing this…… for about ten seconds. Aang knew it would take something more to break her concentration completely and he just so happened to know exactly how to do that. He'd discovered this weapon shortly after they defeated the Fire Lord.

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Authors note: There we go, chapter 2. I'm gunna try and add a new chapter each day providing I get at least 2 reviews, good or bad, I don't care, at least I'll know someone's reading my story. 


	3. Preparations

Thanks again for the reviews guys, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside knowing your enjoying my story... Nope, couldn't keep a straight face with that one. Anywho, here's chapter 3.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, why would you think I did?

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 3**

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After their failed attempt on the day of black sun, they re-strategized and decided the only way to get to the Fire Lord now was for just the four of them to sneak in and catch him off guard. They executed their sneak attack two days before Sozin's Comet would return. They got into the palace quite easily, thanks to Toph. Once they'd gotten close enough to the palace Toph began to tunnel in under the palace walls and using her earthbending to see the surface, led them to directly under the Fire Lords chamber where she could sense him sitting on his thrown.

The plan was for Sokka and Toph to tunnel into the next room and wait there until Aang and Katara had the Fire Lord distracted. They'd spent the few weeks prior planning the attack, going over every single detail time and time again until it was as fool proof as possible. They knew they only had one chance.

"Ok Toph, keep going and come up in the next room. As soon as you signal us that you're ready me and Katara will come up right here." The group fell silent knowing this could be the very last time they were all together. After a short while Katara broke the silence. "

We'll keep him distracted for as long as we can…. But the second you see your chance, no matter where we are in that room…" "Yeah yeah I know, we've gone over this a hundred times, I won't screw it up I promise, none of us will."

"You remember what we agreed on…. As soon as you have a shot…" Toph looked at each of her friends with unseeing eyes, she could sense how scared they were but she knew that wouldn't effect them in what they were about to do, they couldn't allow it to. "Toph?"

"Yeah I got in sugar queen, no matter where you guys are…. I'll do what I'm supposed to. You just better not be anywhere where it'll matter."

Sokka had known for quite a while now that even with his newly found skills with the sword, he had no chance in this fight and had opted to act as Toph's personal body guard. She didn't even protest to the suggestion that she might need someone to watch her back while she was focusing on the battle in the next room. To the surprise of the other three she actually admitted that she'd need a look out, even if it was only Sokka. At this Sokka had of course pouted and stalked off, when he was out of sight the three laughed heartedly. They savoured the moment, knowing that they may never get the chance to laugh again.

Sokka hadn't gone very far, he knew Toph was just being Toph and that she really didn't think so little of him. He enjoyed the sound of his comrades laughter and laughed along with them. But not for long. Tomorrow would be the hardest day of his life. He would have to let his little sister and friend fight the most deadly fight of their lives…. And he wouldn't be able to help.

Toph and Sokka came up in the small room at the back of the Fire Lords chamber. "Ok Toph you ready?" Sokka looked at the small girl in front of him and was confronted with an image he'd never seen before. She was visibly shaking and looked terrified. Sokka kneeled down and pulled the young earthbender into a hug, which she gratefully returned. "It'll be ok, they know what they're doing. No matter what happens, as long as you do what you're supposed to do and we defeat the Fire Lord, then everything will be ok."

"But what if they are somewhere where it'll matter? They're my friends, I don't think I'll be able to do it."

"Toph, Katara's my little sister, I promised my dad I'd do everything in my power to protect her and as hard as it is letting her do this, I know I'm not failing him. It means everything to Katara to help Aang bring down Ozai, even if it costs her her life. It took me a long time but I finally accepted that. And I know that Aang will do anything to protect her. I know he's not supposed to put anyone in front of his duties as Avatar to save the world, but you and me both know he'll put Katara before anything. Katara will do the same for Aang. If they don't make it, it'll be because they went down fighting, because they were willing to give their own lives to bring peace to the world. And besides, if you got a clear shot at Ozai and chickened out because they were in the line of fire they'll both kill me." Toph gave out a weak laugh and punched Sokka roughly in the arm. "Ow." "Alright, I'm ready."

Toph moved towards the opening of the tunnel she had created and got ready to send a small tremor through it, just strong enough for Aang to feel. "Oh, and Sokka" "Yeah Toph." "Thanks."

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Authors note: So these 2 blondes walked into a bar right... You'd think they would have seen it. (crickets chirping) No offence to blondes but if you didn't laugh at that there's gotta be something wrong with your humor gland. (Or would it be humor sensors?) Whatever. So what did you think, please let me know I really appreciate the reviews. 

Oh and by the way, if you havnt checked out my profile, I now have an account on DeviantArt. I've only got one pic so far and I'm looking for inspiration for my next. If anyone has any suggestions that'd be great. In fact i'll take it one step further. For the first person to review the 3rd chapter I will attempt to draw a pic of their request. (Notice how I wrote attempt.) I will not, ever, draw zutara so please don't even ask.


	4. Confessions

**Ok just to clear a few things up. Last chapter was the beginning of a flashback in case you didn't figure that out. Cough! - Veggie - Cough! Thanks again for the reviews. **

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, but I can dream can't I.

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 4**

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"Toph and Sokka are ready." "You felt the signal?" "Yeah." Aang and Katara had been sitting in the pitch black tunnel awaiting Tophs signal in silence. They both had so many things they wanted to say to the other but just couldn't bring themselves to actually say them. Aang had been debating over and over in his head whether he should tell Katara he loved her. He didn't want it to distract either of them, they needed to focus fully on their imminent battle with Ozai. But he also didn't want to risk it by not telling her, in case something happened to either of them, he wanted her to know so badly.

As badly as Katara wanted Aang to know how she felt.

They both stood and Aang created a small fire in the palm of his hand. He'd been able to learn some basic firebending from a scroll Hokoda had found in the fire nation ship they had stolen. He found it after the gaang had left him and the other water tribe men. He gave it to Aang on the day of black sun, knowing it was too late for it to be of any help, but still wanting the young Avatar to have it. The scroll showed a few very basic moves, such as creating the flame, controlling it and then extinguishing it. It wasn't much, but in a time like this is was just what he needed.

He needed to see Katara one last time before they entered what could be the last battle for them both.

Blue eyes stared into grey for what felt like hours. Aang suddenly found that ounce of courage he needed.

"Katara I just wanted you to know that I" "Stop, Aang. You don't need to say anything." "I don't?"

Aang felt as though his heart had been ripped from his chest and burned by the very flames he was about to face. Upon seeing the hurt expression on his face Katara found her own courage and continued.

"You don't need to say anything, because…. because I already know what you're going to say." Upon hearing this Aang looked up with wide eyes. "You do?" Katara looked at the young Avatar whom she'd fallen in love with, the small flame dancing in his stormy eyes. "Yeah. And I wanna say the same thing."

Aang couldn't believe what he'd just heard, she actually felt the same way about him, he'd wanted this even more than defeating the Fire Lord.

"But I'm not going to say it, and I don't want you to either," Katara tore her gaze away from the airbender, "It'll just seem to much like…." "Goodbye." As their eyes met once again she felt relieved that he understood what she was saying.

"Yeah. When we finally finish this thing, when we finally defeat Ozai and end this war….. then… then I want you to say it. Promise me you'll say it." The pleading look in her eyes and desperation in her voice didn't go unnoticed by Aang and he quickly stepped forward, extinguishing the flame before they met in an embrace that both thought could be their last.

"I promise."

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Authors note: Yeah my chapters are kinda short, but I enjoy being a pain and prolonging the suspense. When I posted chapter 3 I put up a kinda prize thingy where the first person who reviewed the chapter got to request a picture for me to draw. Well the winner, Nutshak, being really quick off the mark, was the first to review and so I had to draw what he told me to. He asked me to draw a picture of Aang and Katara free falling off a waterfall. It's up on DeviantArt and the link is at the bottom of my profile page. I'm still open to any and all suggestions so if you've got one please let me know. Coolies. 


	5. Confrontations

**Ok so I've started to slow down with the updating. I just pulled an all-nighter and can't seem to get my head to send the correct signals to my hand to write what I'm thinking. **

Disclaimer: I don't ow 'why do I have to say this at the start of every chapter anyway? They know I don't own it. No dude put the bat down I'll say it. Geez.'

I don't own Avatar. (bloody disclaimer)

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 5**

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They reluctantly pulled away and Aang took Katara's hand. "You ready?" In the darkness Katara couldn't see him but she could sense his gaze upon her, she squeezed his hand, "Let's do this." Aang put his arm around Katara's waist causing both benders to blush and smile at the contact. It was short lived however as Aang suddenly used his earthbending to blast a hole directly above them and create a platform below to propel them upward.

The Fire Lord had been sitting on his thrown behind the curtain of flames. He had just finished talking to his military advisors, making the final preparations for the return of Sozin's Comet. He was very pleased with himself at the present moment. His armies were spread throughout the earth kingdom and his entire navy battalion was poised to strike the northern water tribe. He was currently going through the process of deciding what he wanted for dinner, when all of a sudden the floor in the middle of the room exploded, sending debris everywhere and causing the room to be clouded in a cover of smoke and dust.

Aang and Katara used this as a cloak and broke apart to come at Ozai from opposite sides. Their surprise attack was working perfectly. They were both wearing three water skins, Aang's acting as a back up supply for Katara being that he already had two elements to work with and there was no shortage of air or earth like there was water. While running towards a still stunned Fire Lord, Katara created an ice spear as long as long as her arm and Aang made one of earth.

Ozai had never felt like this before. He was truly stunned and couldn't seem to get a grip on what was happening. His reflexes kicked in just as an earth spear was about to impale him to his own chair. He just managed to turn his body enough that the spear only scratched his left arm. He didn't however manage to dodge the second spear that came for him. This one made of ice, imbedded itself in his right leg, causing a scream of agony from the Fire Lord. The spear melted almost instantly due to the close proximity of the flames, but Katara had thrown it at such force it had gone right through Ozai's leg and was now bleeding quite rapidly.

Aang sunk the wall of flames into the floor and charged at the seemingly incapacitated Fire Lord. This was however a very bad move. Just as Aang was about to fire a boulder at point blank range, Ozai leapt to his feet and punched a terrifyingly powerful fire ball at the avatar. Katara watched horrified as Aang flew back into a pillar and crumpled to the floor. Her mind was screaming for her to run to him and make sure he was ok, but she knew she didn't have time. Especially since Ozai was now making his way over to the fallen avatar with two very large jets of fire protruding from his hands. She was surprised that Ozai hadn't come after her, surely she would be a much easier opponent. That's when she realised that he didn't even know she was there.

Ozai had thought that both spears had come from the avatar. This would have given her a major advantage had it not been for the fact that the Fire Lord was readying for his finishing blow to the avatar.

With reflexes only possessed by the greatest of waterbending masters, Katara lashed at the Fire Lord with a water whip, finally alerting him to her presence.

"Well well, what have we here? You must be the avatar's girlfriend. The water tribe peasant." Katara narrowed her eyes at the tyrant. "Oh yes, I know about you. I know that you're said to be one of the most powerful waterbenders of all time. Though, I can't see how that can possibly be true. After all, you're just a child." Katara narrowed her eyes even further at the comment, but noticing movement off to the left, looked out of the corner of her eyes at Aang who to her great relief, was alive. Katara knew that if the Fire Lord was to see Aang right now, the airbender would be done for. She just needed to give him a little time to regain his senses.

"I also know," She was brought out of her strategizing as Ozai spoke once more. "that you are the avatar's only true weakness. That by ending you, ending the avatar will be an easy task." With that Ozai leapt forward and began firing a ruthless barrage of fire balls at the waterbender.

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Authors note: Ok that was chap 5. What did you think? Btw, I got a suggestion from Twilight Rose2 to draw a pic of Toph and Sokka having tea sometime after the war had ended. So keep ur eyes on these word thingies below this line and on my profile for the link to the pic. It'll hopefully be up sometime next week. Hopefully. 

And I'm gunna wait till I get 3 reviews before I post the next chapter. Check ya's later.


	6. Retaliations

**Ok guys sorry it took me a little longer to update this time. I went 36 hours with no sleep, thanks and no thanks to my buddy zutara-is-evil-kataang-rules for keeping me up. Na just kiddin. But I wasn't in any state to write, but here it is.**

**On another note. OMG!!! DAY OF BLACK SUN!!! I'm speechless, no words can describe the high I'm on after watching it.**

**Anyway.**

**Disclaimer: If ur reading chapter 6 then u must have read the other chapters so you know the whole disclaimer drill. **

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 6**

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Katara's eyes widened as the torrent of fire came hurtling towards her. The speed at which it was approaching her gave her very little reaction time, but at the last possible second she brought up an ice shield in an attempt to at least diminish the force of the impact. It did, but only enough so that the hit didn't actually kill her. The wind was knocked out of her as she was thrown back across the chamber. 

She clutched at her chest as she struggled to regain her breath. She looked up from her hunched position on the ground to see the Fire Lord casually advancing on her.

"Waterbending master indeed, can't even successfully block a single atta Oomph!! Ozai stumbled forward but managed to maintain his footing. He looked around to see where the attack come from. He could only see the avatar, still laying motionless face down on the other side of the room. He continued to scan the chamber until an object caught his eye. It was a water skin, right where the water tribe peasant had previously been standing, and it was opened.

He turned back to find the girl in a fighting stance, with a ball of ice the size of her head in her right hand. As if to confirm his realisation he put his hand to the back of his head to find that it was indeed wet. "Well then, you appear to have _some_ skills I'll give you that." He watched as the ball of ice broke apart into a dozen smaller ones, then transform into razor sharp shards.

With all the strength and control Katara could muster she began to launch the newly formed shards at the Fire Lord. He proceeded to punch fire and dodge as the shards came at him with astounding force. 'Some skill indeed.' Ozai mused to himself as one came incredibly close to slicing his arm. 'But still not enough to defeat me.'

Katara knew just throwing some ice at the tyrant wasn't going to do anything, she needed to find a weakness, an opening of any sort. That's why while she was keeping Ozai distracted by firing the shards directly at him, she sent one around behind him and had taken it out in a wide arc so that when it came back it was moving as fast as possible. She had it aimed right at the centre of his back, and it was coming in fast.

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"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" The Fire Lord fell to his knees due to the searing pain coursing through his back. The shard of ice hit just below his right shoulder blade. Katara smirked as the Fire Lord tried in vain to reach around and inspect the newly inflicted wound. "That's water tribe peasant 2, evil tyrant 0." At this Ozai looked up with a look of absolute rage and hatred on his face.

He looked at the still bleeding gash on his arm, then to the waterbender standing in front of him. Fire raged in Ozai's eyes. "That was you?!" He pounded his fists on the floor so hard it caused a crack to appear. "I will not be defeated, especially not by a filthy water rat."

Katara's smirk transformed into an expression of anger, hurt, rage, pain, everything the Fire Lord had put her through was portrayed in her eyes at that moment. She brought forth all the water she had left and positioned it directly above Ozai.

"Guess again Ozai." She commanded the water to form a very large, very lethal spear, aimed right for the Fire Lord's heart. "This is for all the evil you've committed, all the hurt and sorrow you've inflicted upon the world, this is for my mother and most importantly…. THIS IS FOR AANG!!!"

She summoned all her remaining strength and raised the spear high into the air, so as to bring it down with as much force as possible.

The last thing Katara could remember about the fight was Aang's distressed cry, "KATARA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Followed instantly by a flash of blinding blue light.

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Authors note: I mentioned in the previous chapter that Twilight Rose2 suggested I draw a pic of Toph and Sokka. Well its all done and up on my deviant art page. Here's the link. http // airwalker88 . deviantart . com / art / Down-time-69617939 Just copy it into ur browser window and take out the spaces. Hope you like it. 


	7. Hesitations

**Ok so i'm really sorry it's taken me so long to update. Truth be told I wasn't gunna get around to updating again for a little while so I decided to punch this short as chapter out now just to break the writing drought. Luckily it's got me on a bit of a roll again so hopefully it won't be like 4 years untill I update again.**

**On another note I've just made a chat room for die hard avatards. I'm on it a fair bit but hopefully I can get a lot more people on it and then the avatar mahem can really begin. Anyway here's the link http // avatardsunite . chatango . com/ Just copy and paste it into ur browser and take out the spaces.**

**Disclaimer: If they havn't figured it out by now then I seriously doubt their intelligence.**

**Airwalker88:... Well I can't argue with that logic.**

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 7**

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"Oh man, oh man, oh man, I knew this was a bad idea." "Sokka this was your idea, remember." "Yeah I know, I was stupid, so so so stupid. I can't believe I let Katara do this." Sokka paced back and forth behind the crouching earthbender, she was concentrating her hardest on sensing every little movement emanating from the battle being raged out in the other room.

She gasped as Aang was thrown into the pillar and remained motionless on the floor. The only reassurance she received was the steady heart beat of the unconscious airbender. She new then that she didn't have much time, if Aang didn't wake up very soon Katara would be in a near impossible position of taking on the Fire Lord by herself.

At the sound of Toph's gasp, Sokka immediately stopped his pacing and rushed to her side. "What?! What happened?" But before Toph could answer his question the door behind them burst open. The royal guard had heard the scream of their Lord and had come running. Finding the two kids in the alcove behind the Fire Lords chamber was the last thing they expected and were understandably shocked. Both parties stood stock still gawking at each other. Sokka, realising this was the exact reason he was here with Toph, was the first to come out of his stupor and unsheathing his sword turned to Toph, "As soon as I get them out of the room block the door."

Sokka charged at the firebenders, barging them out of the room. Toph was slow to react to what Sokka had just said, "Sokka wait!" "Do it now Toph," he kicked away two firebenders as they tried to get back in the room, "Block the door!" Toph hesitated for a second, knowing if she blocked the door, Sokka would be on his own against at least a dozen firebenders.

She slowly brought forth her hands, feeling Sokka's eyes on her.

A tear fell as she raised a slab of rock to block the door.

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Authors note: Well it's something I guess. I'm gunna sit my but down at my computer and not leave untill I get this story rolling again. 


	8. Author's Note

I am soooooooooooooooooo freakin sorry that I haven't updated in forever. At first I didn't have a lot of free time on my hands, (I HATE WORK!!!) But when I did actually get time to write, I couldn't, (I HATE WRITERS BLOCK!!!) But this last week has by far been the worst in my life. I lost a mate. He was a bloody champ and I was doin it kinda rough so my mate Nutshak suggested I do something to get my mind off of it. He said try and write some more of your story. What he doesn't know until now is that I actually took his advice and sat myself down at my laptop and finally after Agni knows how long, started writing my story again. I haven't got a whole lot more done but I've almost got another chapter done and with any luck I should have it posted within the next day or 2. So I thank you for being patient. And Nut I thank you for getting me back on the horse so to speak.

I'd also just like to mention that while I haven't been able to write, I have been able to draw. I've done a few more new pics since I last posted and they're up on my deviant art page. www . airwalker88 . deviantart . com Right now I'm outta ideas for pics to draw and I'll be representing Avatar Portal in the Avatar Fandom Olympics and I need to practice, so any suggestions you might have would be awesome.

Anyway just wanted to let you know my story hasn't become one of the many incomplete fics. Cheers


	9. Reactions

**FINALLY!!! I have finally updated this story. Oh man I can't believe it took me so long to write the next chapter, but here it is. Like always its short, but I really can't seem to write longer chapters. I think it builds anticipation for the next chap. But oh well, ON WITH THE READING!**

**Disclaimer: You're back!**

**Airwalker88: Yh sorry I was just...**

**Disclaimer: DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING HERE?!!!**

**Airwalker88: Hey hey take it easy I already told you... Where'd you get a gun? Why do you have a gun? Oh shi... 'BANG!!!'**

**Disclaimer:... **

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 8**

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Azula had missed her mark by only mere inches, striking the waterbender in the shoulder blade instead of her intended target of the centre of her back. However as the girl in blue was thrown mercilessly to the floor she still deemed it to be a lethal blow given the close proximity and force of the attack. 

She looked to her left, and winced. For possibly the first time in her life, she felt a twinge on fear. The look on the Avatars face was one of uncontrollable rage and caused her to take a step backwards.

Though she had lived only a relatively short life, Azula had commited evils far greater than a number of full grown men combined. She had had two very loyal friends, even if they did only do as she commanded because they were afraid she would roast them if they objected. She would never admit it, to herself or to anyone, that when they had fled from the fire nation only a few days earlier, that she had felt not only betrayal, but also hurt and sadness.

In those last few moments, she felt rather empty and a little pissed off. Her life didn't flash before her eyes like she had been told happens in the face of death, but only that her friends were not there, and that she would never get the chance to tell them how sorry she was.

Ozai watched from his crumpled position on the floor as the angered airbender ended his daughter. The razor sharp blade of air that had been lashed at an incomprehensible speed, killed the fire princess in an instant. Rage coursed through his veins, just like the avatar, who was now facing the fallen fire lord.

Their eyes met. Both knew that this was the final showdown. That within the next few minutes, only one or possibly neither of them would be left standing. In his rage and anger, aang had forgotten all about his backup. All he new, all that he cared about was that katara was lying face down, and showing no signs of life whatsoever.

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Authors note: It's ok I'm all good, the disclaimer is a bad shot. He only nicked me. Well again I'm sorry for taking so long to update and with any hope it won't take so long to post the next chapter. That is if my stupid pc WOULD STOP FREEZING! Plz review. 8D 


	10. Realizations

**Well this chapter is a little bit longer so i'm kinda improving :) Ha ha. (I'm pretty sure i'm gunna run outta chap titles that end in ations soon.)**

**Disclaimer:... I'm so not going over this again.**

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Toph had never thought Aang was capable of such raw anger. The vibrations she was sensing from him were almost overwhelming her ability to sense anything else. She wasn't able to sense anything from katara and toph had to use every ounce of self control she had to not break down right there at the thought of her friend being possibly dead.

She wasn't allowing herself to jump to conclusions, the magnitude of aang's vibrations was too great to sense the tiny tremors of an extremely weak heart beat.

She had lost track of sokka and the soldiers outside a short while ago. She had taken a quick second to check if the water tribe warrior was ok and felt as sokka led them away from the thrown room and out into what she assumed to be a courtyard. He had managed to take down four men already and the last she sensed from him, was still far from exhaustion. She took a small amount of comfort in that thought and focused her attention back on the battle that she now found to be at somewhat of a standstill.

From what she could tell, Azula had come out of nowhere, Ozai appeared to be quite injured, Aang had regained full consciousness and Katara….. Katara was on the ground, and she wasn't moving.

The earthbender strained her senses to pick up anything, any sign of life from the waterbender. But just as she had focused her 'sight' on her friend, her vision became very clouded and distorted as her other very much alive, very much pissed off friend, began to emit vibrations at such a violent force toph thought for sure the airbender was about to explode.

The next thing happened so fast for a moment she found her self asking what had just happened. The princess had been standing there one minute, then in the blink on an unseeing eye, there was two very noticeable thuds of what toph believed to be two bodies hitting the floor.

For a second she wondered where the other person had come from, who it was, and how they had both been taken down at the exact same time. It wasn't until the avatar's vibrations died down a bit that she was able to regain her senses and the sudden realisation of what had happened hit her like a ten ton flying bison.

Toph felt sick. She felt as though she was about to throw up. But she didn't have the time to succumb to such urges right now. Besides she knew someone was going to die today. Whether it be the Fire Lord or, heaven forbid, one of her friends. Granted, she didn't think she'd witness anyone die such a vicious death, but it was a death non the less and was something she'd just have to deal with, as would they all.

Azula's death was the farthest from Aang's mind right now. He kept screaming at himself that he had to calm down and think with his head and not his heart. Oh but how impossible that seemed. His focus kept darting back and forth between the seething Fire Lord and the girl clad in blue lying motionless on the thrown room floor.

His girl.

He struggled to fight down every urge racing thru his mind, yelling at him to run to her and check that she was ok. Aang closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Ozai had been undoubtedly shocked by the Avatar's merciless attack on his daughter. And quite frankly, he was beginning to question the outcome of this battle.

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Authors note: Yh so i kinda didn't wanna make the details of Azula's death to, well i'd say awesome, cause i wanna keep the rating t and i'm not 100 on the boundries. So yeah. Please review.


	11. Positions

**Yay a new chap!!! And this time i managed to get it over 1000 words. (does the air dance) Right enough of that.**

**Disclaimer:...**

**Airwalker88: psst! disclaimer dude. OI!!! Oh for agni's sake! Where the hell is that guy? There you are!**

**Disclaimer: El gasp! I have be discoovered. I must flee, sexily. (flees)**

**Airwalker88: Oi get back here you idiot! HEY! YOU CAN ATLEAST SAY THE DAMN DISCLAIMER BEFORE YOU GO! DAMN IT MAN DON'T MAKE ME RUN!**

**Revenge is sweet when served with a dose of insanity**

**Chapter 10**

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Aang knew he couldn't let his emotions control him right now. So many thoughts were rushing through his head right then that everything else seemed to be moving in slow motion. He told him self to 'calm down, get a grip, the best thing you can do for Katara right now is to end this once and for all.' And like getting hit in the head with a rock, he remembered he still wasn't alone in this fight. His backup, or secret weapon as Toph had dubbed herself, was still waiting to deliver what Aang hoped desperately to be a war ending attack. 

The plan in itself was quite simple. The roof of the palace was made of stone, very thick, very heavy stone. If a piece the size of a papaya was to hit you on the head after falling such a distance it would surely kill you. So if the entire roof was to collapse, well it doesn't take a genius to understand the fate of anyone caught underneath it.

They had all agreed that if Ozai got the upper hand (which was quite likely), unless some sort of miracle were to occur the battle wouldn't last very long. Aang was still unable to enter the Avatar state, so he wouldn't be able to rely on his past lives to back him up…… He'd have to rely on his friends. The words were somehow familiar though he couldn't remember where he'd heard it. He thought maybe he'd heard Bumi say it to him the first time they visited Omashu, but he could have sworn he'd heard it in a woman's voice.

One problem with the plan was that once Toph started executing it, there wouldn't be a point of no return. Though it would take a short while for her to weaken the roof enough to cause it to fall, as soon as it was ready to go, it was gunna go. Now the best case scenario, was both Aang and Katara being no where near the kill zone and walking away to live happily ever after. But since when did anything that happened to the gaang go that perfectly. So they decided on two ways of signalling Toph to carry out the last resort. The first was if both Aang and Katara were unable to signal the attack themselves, due to the fact that they would both be unconscious, or worse….. The second was if, as already stated, either Aang or Katara signalled the attack themselves.

Aang would just signal Toph by sending her three short tremors using his earthbending. Katara's signal would be harder for Toph to detect. She would simply stomp her foot as hard as she could three times. But if Toph was hearing any other 'noise' then there was a chance that she might miss the signal. This is why it was decided at their last strategy meeting the previous night, that if anything was to happen to Aang where Katara couldn't just have him relay her signal to Toph, then Toph would have to focus all of her concentration on Katara no matter what. During the discussion on what the signals should be, Katara was very quiet. The rest of the gaang thought it to be just nerves and that she was scared. It wasn't until Toph was reflecting on the conversation while tunnelling under the royal city that she realised Katara hadn't been quiet because she was nervous or scared. Katara was never willingly quiet. It was because she thought she wouldn't need a signal.

Toph knew then that Katara didn't think she was going to make it. At the time she had felt like just earthbending some sense into her. But the thought of sugar queen being unoptimistic actually scared the young earthbender. It was like if Katara didn't believe it was possible, then it just wasn't.

Aang was praying that Toph was still paying close attention because he knew if he made it look too obvious that he was trying to draw Ozai in a certain direction then the fire lord would surely pick up on it. Then suddenly time took up its normal pace again as Aang found himself jumping high into the air to avoid a fire ball. Ozai was back on his feet, though shakily, and was firing blast after blast at the avatar. As Aang jumped and dodged he took what very little time he had to survey the situation so that he could get Ozai in a prime position for Toph to execute a hasty and effective attack. He thought the closer to Toph he could get the easier it would be for her to do her thing. But no matter how close to that end of the thrown room he could get, Katara would still be in the kill zone.

He had to get her out of the room.

He thought the best way to do that would be to use his earthbending to raise a slab of rock underneath Katara and launch it out the thrown room doors. However, if Ozai saw this then he'd be alerted immediately and they'd loose their chance. He figured the only way he'd be able to do this successfully would be to wait until the roof had actually started to come down and then quickly launch Katara out of the room. He realised then that he would be breaking his promise to her. He didn't see how he'd be able to keep Ozai distracted and in position long enough unless he was actually fighting him. Which would mean even if he used his airbending he wouldn't have enough time from when the roof began to fall to first get to Katara then get clear of the kill zone.

All thoughts were set aside that instant as a fire whip connected with Aang dead in the chest and sent him skidding across the thrown room floor. His vision blurred as his head collided with stone when he came to an abrupt halt against a pillar. He watched through hazy eyes as the fire lord slowly staggered towards him. He shook his head to clear the concussion. As his vision began to slowly improve he could see that Ozai was saying something, though he couldn't tell what. The loud ringing in his ears was blocking out all sound. He used his left arm to support himself so he could stand, but he quickly crumpled back to his previous position as a wave of immense pain shot through his arm.

Ozai was no doubt in mid rant with his focus entirely on the fallen avatar in front of him. He was swaying slightly as he stood and was still bleeding badly. Aang knew this was his last chance. If he gave it his all he might be able to get back up and keep fighting. But as the minutes went by Ozai would be regaining his senses and his strength, having him almost entirely off guard like this was a once in a lifetime occurrence. Aang looked to the young watertribe girl that had stolen his heart.

He didn't know if she was even still alive, he didn't want to think about that. Either way she was still going to be outside the thrown room when the roof collapsed. He could use the last of his strength to carry on his fight with the fire lord for a bit longer. But why waste it on something so useless. He'd use it for something useful alright. He just hoped that Katara would one day forgive him for breaking his promise to her, for leaving her. A tear fell down his blood stained cheek as he placed his open palm to the floor.

"I'm so sorry Katara."

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Author's note: Hoozah! Man i'm so close to finishing this story i can taste it. No, wait... no that's just that ham sandwich i had for lunch. 10 points for the first person who can point out the reference i made in this chapter. Its a reference to avatar so it shouldnt be too hard. Here's a hint: It's in the early paragraphs. Please review. 


	12. Author's note 2

I am so so so so so so so so so so really really sorry that I haven't updated in forever

I am so so so so so so so so so so really really sorry that I haven't updated in forever. Medical issues have kept me out of action for the last few months but hopefully its gunna be all cleared up soon and I'll be able to get back to writing. I just wanna say thanks to everyone who's followed my fic so far once again I'm really sorry I've kept you all waiting so long.


	13. Reflexions

**I am so so so so so so so insanly sorry for not updating in like forever. Certain events occured and this story practically fell off my list of priorities. Ok rephrase that, It DID fall off my list of priorities. However I've received a few reviews lately that motivated me to get back to it. I appoligise for the shortness of all my chapters, writing doesn't come easy to me so I lack the ability to lengthen my chapters without risking dragged out filler content that just bores the hell outta people. Thanks to everyone whos still sticking with this story, you're the reason I havn't just given up all together and deemed this story 'completed and unfinished' so thanks again.**

Right let's get to it.

Do I own Avatar yet?

Disclaimer: No

Aw damn it :(

**Chapter 11**

Using his good arm Aang placed his palm flat to the floor and sent three very acute vibrations towards Toph. An immense wave of sorrow overcame him as he thought about the perfect peaceful future he'd envisioned sharing with Katara. He knew it would only take Toph less than a minute to weaken the supports in the ceiling enough for it to give way. He also knew that in that minute Ozai could possibly escape or at least get far enough away to avoid being crushed. Still with his good arm flat to the floor, Aang braced himself and with a vigorating and terror fuelled burst of energy, lifted himself up and stood to face Ozai for the last time.

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Toph wanted to cry, or scream, she didn't know which. She just wanted to be back at home with her parents, safe behind the high walls that had hid her all her life, away from all the evils of this world. At that moment any hate and resentment she held for her parents was replaced with regret and shame. If only she'd listened to her parents.

But then she never would have met her friends.

"My family."

She couldn't let her family down. The sceptical idiot who made her laugh so hard sometimes and who she maybe had a bit of a crush on, though she wouldn't admit it to anyone. The caring, motherly (sometimes really annoying) kind hearted girl who'd become the older sister she'd always wanted. And then there was the Avatar. At first she thought he was too much of a wimp to be the Avatar. She could knock him over with the slightest slide of her foot and it certainly didn't help with sweetness constantly fussing over him all the time.

Twinkletoes and Sweetness.

Those two were so oblivious it was painful. How was it that they couldn't see what they had right in front of them after months of being together, when a blind girl could see it after having only known them for a few minutes. She still remembered when the gaang had come to her home looking for her. Katara had walked past Aang to sit down on a couch and had brushed up against him the slightest bit. Both their heartbeats had skyrocketed and by the amount of blood rushing to their cheeks she knew they were both blushing. She was pulled out of her reminiscence by three very short, very abrupt vibrations.

And her stomach dropped.

"No."

Toph's mind swam with thoughts screaming at her. 'No I can't do it,' 'they're my family,' 'there has to be another way,'

'But I have to, I promised.'

The later resounded louder and more clearly amongst the chaos in her head. She steadied herself and drove both hands into the stone floor. She allowed herself only a moment of hesitation.

"Katara, Aang………… I'm so sorry."

She cleared the thought of her friends from her mind and aimed all of her concentration and power on the joints where the stone pillars met the ceiling. The weakest part would be in the very centre of the four pillars nearest to her. Where the heavy stone that made up the roof was under the most strain. She needed to weaken the joints as much as she could as to put even more stress on this point. From there it would be an easy task for her to bring down the crushing mass, quickly and efficiently. Hitting its desired target…….

As well as those of her friends.

"Here goes everything."


	14. Apprehension

Ok so this chapter doesn't have an actual title. I've kinda run outta words that end in that 'tions' sound. So I'm gunna through the challenge to you guys. If you can think of a good title for this chapter that ends with 'ions' then... uh... a cookie? Ok maybe 2 cookies.

Disclaimer: --

Airwalker88: Yeah I reckon that about sums it up

**Chapter 12**

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Toph's 'vision' raced across the floor, up the walls and through the ceiling, diving into cracks and any weak point of entry. She feverously worked at attacking the stone, causing more and more earth to chip away, making the cracks longer, wider and deeper. The stone was weakening at a much faster rate then she had predicted. It seemed as though building a palace atop of volcano had done most of the work for her. A normal person would never be able to notice the slightest movements of the earth but the heavy stone pillars certainly could.

Toph could feel the strain getting stronger and stronger and had to resist every urge she had to divert her energy into fighting it like she had with the library in the desert. This was like the exact opposite of that situation. Then she had been trying to stop the library from sinking so that her friends could get out safely. This time…

No, she couldn't let herself start thinking about it again, it would only make it harder then it already was.

She found a very large crack that ran from the northern most pillar to just right of the centre of the ceiling. Had this been any other day she would have found the discovery quite shocking. It would never have needed the greatest earth bender in the world to bring down the roof. Eventually gravity would have done the job for her.

She was hesitating again. She'd already weakened one pillar in half the time she had thought it would take. Now she knew she wouldn't have to worry about any of the other pillars. She could focus all her energy right here and barely even break a sweat. It'd all be over within the next few seconds.

"Toph it's me let me back in quick!" Toph was ripped out of her concentration so suddenly that it took her a second to realise what was going on. With a swift stomp of her foot she drew the temporary wall back into the earth allowing Sokka to dive back into the small room.

"Close it up! Close it up!" It was only then that she noticed the mass of people running towards them. With another stomp she threw the wall back up just in time to block several fire blasts.

"Oh man that was close, I must have taken out about ten soldiers before all those guys came out of nowhere." His breathing was ragged and Toph could 'see' that he had several burns though they didn't appear to be very serious.

"So, how's everything going in here?" Sokka's poor attempt at a joke was answered with a single tear from the young earth bender. Sokka's nervous grin fell into a look of realising fear. He didn't need to ask Toph what had happened. He just knew that for it to make Toph cry, it could only be bad. Very, very bad. His eyes moved from her face to her hands which were both still buried rather deeply into the stone floor.

"What.."

"The roof was already fairly weak it's not taking as long as I thought it would." Toph choked back a cry. "It'll only take a few more seconds."

Sokka was overcome by a wave of nausea and grasped for the wall as he slumped to the floor.

"Is there really no other way?" It was more of a plea then a question. He already knew the answer.

"We've already wasted too much time I just about to.. to.. finish it, when you called out. If I don't do it soon we might have missed our chance and Aang and Katara would be really mad with me if I stuffed this up and you know how sugarqueen gets when she's angry she'll be on my back about it for weeks and.." Sokka rushed toward Toph and pulled her into an awkward hug due to her hands being kind of occupied. He couldn't even begin to imagine how hard this was for her. It was unbearably hard for him and all he had to do was sit and wait.

"It's ok Toph." As inappropriate as a joke was right now, he had to make the task as easy as he could for her. They would have time after to be angry at themselves but Toph had always seemed to respond well to sarcasm.

"Well we better not make Katara angry then. Her cooking isn't as great when she's fuming about something." A small laugh broke through Toph's sobbing. Sokka wiped away her tears as she pulled her head from his chest. He smiled at her and even though she couldn't see it, she smiled back. He was always looking out for her.

"Thanks Sokka." As she focused her attention back on the task at hand, Sokka placed a comforting arm around her small yet surprisingly strong shoulders and bowing his head said a silent prayer.

'Please Aang for the love of Agni get my sister and yourself out of there. Please.'


	15. Determination

ZOMG! I managed to get over 1000 words into this chap. :D Thanks for the reviews and story alerts guys and I really don't wanna keep you hanging much longer so the end is near. I'm really hoping to continue my streak of getting a new chap up a day so fingers crossed. Also a huge thanks to tokka fun for giving chapter 12 a title. Tis perfect and I shower you with cookies and gratitude.

Disclaimer: Wasn't I just here yesterday

Airwalker88: Dude I can't remember what I ate for lunch how am I meant to remember where you were yesterday?

Disclaimer: hmmmmm... I think I'll have kfc for lunch

**Chapter 13**

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Ozai's breathing was harsh and short coming. Aang saw that his right arm was hanging a bit too loosely at his side. His eyes landed on the small pool of blood beside Ozai's right foot. Upon looking back up he saw that the blood was dripping from his right hand. At that moment the Fire Lord swayed slightly to the left, giving Aang a better view of his back. The right side of Ozai's back was entirely covered in blood. He didn't remember seeing him get hit that bad. It must have been while he was regaining consciousness.

Katara.

His heart swam with pride for the water tribe girl. Even with him down she'd managed to get in what looked like a near fatal hit. If they remained at a stand still for much longer the possibility of it being a lethal blow would become more likely. But Aang knew he didn't have that kind of time. He figured by now Toph would have started her thing and judging by the time she thought it would take he'd have about a minute.

"So, Avatar, this is it huh? The final show down. Well don't expect much of a show, this will be over quickly!" With that Ozai leapt forward shooting a slightly weaker than normal fire blast at Aang. He rose up a wall of earth, blocking the blast with surprising ease. Could the Fire Lord really be hurt that badly that Aang could beat him. Could Aang have underestimated himself that much… Did he just make the single greatest mistake of his life signalling Toph too soon.

As if to emphasise this point, a small stream of earth fell onto Aang's left shoulder. He was still behind his defensive wall and prayed that Ozai hadn't seen it. He risked a glance at the ceiling. At first he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then his eyes focused. He could see a multitude of lines running from the base of the pillar behind him joining with what almost looked like an oddly shaped spiderflies web. He could visibly see the cracks forming and growing at a terrifyingly fast speed. All spreading out from the point directly above him.

He began to panick.

"Stop hiding you coward!" Ozai threw a number of fire blasts at his earth shield. The air around him was growing increasingly hotter. Aang's mind was racing. Did he just risk Katara's life, his life, because he thought he was no match for the Fire Lord?

No. He still had a chance. He could still save Katara.

An overpowering wave of adrenalin flooded Aang's senses as he began to fight back. The earthen shield that only seconds ago had been his defence became his offence as he fired punch after punch of rock back at the Fire Lord. Ozai was slightly taken off guard by this sudden barrage and took a number of painfully winding hits. He managed to stay standing but only just. The pain in his back was now only a dull ache, masking the very serious injury at its cause. Ozai had long ago lost any trace of reasonable thought. He had been shamed by the water tribe peasant and had witnessed his daughter's demise. He was blood hungry, fuelled with rage and hysteria.

He was making mistakes. And Aang could see it.

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Aang couldn't risk another look at the ceiling. He didn't want Ozai to catch on but most importantly he feared if he looked again he would be met with the sight of his end racing towards him. He knew now that he'd made the wrong decision. Katara had fatally wounded Ozai, making him a far easier target then Aang could have ever hoped for.

As his life faded more and more rapidly, Ozai fought to remain upright, not wanting to give the Avatar the satisfaction of seeing him on his knees. He no longer had the use of his right arm. He couldn't even move his fingers no matter how hard he tried. He continued to fire wild shots with absolutely no aim. One actually came close to hitting Aang though only because Aang had tried to block it with an air blast from his left hand. Having forgotten it was most probably broken he had just managed to dodge the fire ball while enduring the excruciating wave of pain.

He regathered his senses and with a kick of his right foot shot a pillar of earth up at the Fire Lord, knocking him back several yards. But no he needed to get Ozai closer to him not move him further away. He was standing right beneath the centre of where the roof would fall, Ozai needed to here and he and Katara needed to be as far away as possible. Preferably out of the room entirely.

Ozai refused to yield to the darkness that threatened to overcome him. He spun and kicked out a wave of fire towards the Avatar before stumbling back to his feet. Aang saw it coming and knew he could easily avoid it. But knowing what he needed to do, Aang created just enough of an air shield to propel himself backwards, making it appear to Ozai that his attack had struck the Avatar and had sent him flying. Literally. Aang feigned being winded from the hit so as to give Ozai that extra bit of encouragement to advance upon him. The Fire Lord took the bait.

Ozai, being in his current state of near insanity laughed maniacally at 'striking down' the Avatar. He stumbled toward the airbender, taking great pride in the thought that he was about to finish off his only threat at total world domination.

"This day will go down in history, as the day, the Fire Lord ended the Avatar, and became ruler, of the entire world!" Ozai lifted his left arm and began to fire up as powerful a blast as he could. Aang had taken this time to plan his final move. He just prayed that Toph was about to make her final move as well. He found his prayer answered a little too quickly.

Just as Ozai had lifted his arm to fire Aang saw a crack the width of his fist form directly above him which then branched off into several other equally if not larger cracks. With agility he didn't think he could possibly possess in his current state, Aang sprang up and reached forward rose up two shards of earth encasing Ozai's hands. He lowered the earthen shackles to the floor bringing Ozai to his knees just as several momo sized chunks of stone fell where he'd been standing only moments before.

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Author's note: Wow 3 chapters in 3 days I'm on a roll... Let's just hope it stays that way :P

Please review


	16. Desperation

Sorry bout the delay on this chap. Weekend was a weird one. But yeah. The end is near people. Only taken about a year (man thats pathetic) thanks for hangin in there.

Disclaimer: Bugger off I'm sleeping

Airwalker88: --

**Chapter 14**

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Aang jumped in alarm when he heard the shattering thuds and spun just in time to dodge several more leathal projectiles. He didn't need any more incentive. Without another moments hesitation Aang turned and using his airbending to propel him as fast as his ability could muster, made his way towards Katara. He only got as far as the large map imprint on the floor when he was struck in the head by a small yet dangerously fast falling piece of stone.

However he was moving just fast enough that his fall sent him skidding to within only meters of Katara. His head was spinning and his left arm felt as if there was a raging inferno burning from the inside out. Aang lifted his head and through the haziness of concussion his eyes landed on the blue blur lying almost within reach. Just then his attention was averted to the ceiling by a thunderous cracking.

He literally only had seconds left, no where near enough time to get Katara and himself out of harms way. But she was right there…

With one finale surge of energy from the exhausted Avatar, Aang scrambled to his feet and made a desperate dive at Katara, just as the ceiling fell free.

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Toph had gone back to working on the largest and weakest crack in the ceiling. It took only a few seconds before she felt the massive weight of the heavy stone surge down upon itself, causing a mass of cracks and breaks to burst outward from her point of attack. She withdrew her 'sight' from the ceiling but left both hands planted firmly within the floor. She sought for the airbender, finding him at about the same place he had been last she'd seen him. He was lying on his back and Toph could see the Firelord advancing on him.

Toph quickly removed her hands from the floor and 'looked away'. She didn't want to watch what was about to happen. Seeing this, Sokka learned forward and encompassed the small girl in as tight a hug as possible. Toph buried her face in the fabric of the boy's shirt and began sobbing as they both braced themselves for the oncoming impact.

Toph had sussed out the room while they were still down in the tunnel and knew it would withstand the devastation easily. And right now with those firebenders outside it was far safer in here than out there.

'Any second now.. It'll all be over.. this is what Katara and Aang would have wanted.. any sec'

"Huh!" Sokka was wrenched from his minds rambling by the sudden gasp from the earthbender. "Earthbending! I just felt earthbending!" With that Toph ripped herself from Sokka's near bone crushing grip and placed both hands on the floor. Sokka's heart tore for the girl. "Toph it's just the rocks.." "No Sokka it wasn't it was Aang he earthbended!"

It took her less than a second to focus her sight back on the thrown room. Ozai was pinned down by his hands and Aang was.. where was Aang? By now the roof had begun to break apart and the resulting vibrations were making it very hard for Toph to pin point a single object. A dull thud very much unlike the sharp resounding of the stones drove her in the right direction. She found Aang and from what she could make out he was faced down and unmoving.

'Come on twinkletoes get up, please get up.' Her heart practically sank into her stomach when she felt the roof finally give way. Hearing the thunderous roar and putting aside the question of what the hell was going on in the next room, Sokka's protective instinct kicked in and he threw himself onto Toph. This caused her hands to lose contact with the floor, just as Aang had made a dive for Katara… And just as the crushing mass crashed down.

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Author's note: ... Ya I got nothing. Please review :)


	17. Elation

Ok ok ok I got over 1000 words again does air dance I'm trying to write whenever I get a chance. The fact that it takes me a week to throw out 1 chap tells you how much time I get -- I hate work. Right! On with it!

Disclaimer: Ecky Ecky Ecky Ecky Pakaang Zoom Boing

Airwalker: o you on drugs man?

**Chapter 15**

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Sokka and Toph waited out the seemingly endless barrage of quakes that had thrown them from their hunched position to lying flat on the floor, Sokka protectively covering Toph's small yet stocky frame the entire time. Even after the vibrations had settled and the ear deafening rumbling had past Sokka still didn't want to open his eyes, for fears that he would open them to a sight of pure devastation. Toph however couldn't not see it.

The walls and roof of the small room they were in were still completely intact, the thrown room however… It just wasn't there anymore. They'd been foolish to think the destruction would be limited to a single area of the room. After witnessing first hand the degraded state of the ceiling Toph was surprised that even the room they were in had survived. They were lucky. Though their luck was the furthest thing from her mind right now.

'Aang earthbended.. I felt it he earthbended.. he made it to Katara he'd never give up on her he had to have at least tried… he had to…' But despite her minds pleas to search for her friends amongst the rubble she just couldn't bring herself to do. She was afraid of what she would find. Or rather not find, as she'd be searching for any sign of movements, any sign of life. Finding nothing would mean her friends were gone. But Aang wasn't ready to give up and neither was she.

Without a word to Sokka, Toph, quite uncharacteristically, rolled over and gently pushed him back as to allow herself room to get to her feet. Sokka being still in a state of shock just stared numbly at the girl. It took him a few moments to gain control of his racing mind and remember what had just happened. His thoughts cleared and he was suddenly confronted with the situation at hand. Katara and Aang fighting the Firelord… roof collapsing.. Katara and Aang! Had they made it out? Were they ok? Where were they?

"Toph where's Katara and Aang did they make it out ok?! Where are they?!" He was met with silence. "Toph!"

"Shut it Sokka I'm trying to concentrate!"

"Concentrate on what?! Toph where's my sister?! You were watching the whole time you have to know if she's ok. Is she ok?" The lack of answers coming from the earthbender was creating an ever growing dark cloud of dread and doubt in the boy's heart. Sokka's sudden silence was enough to inform Toph that he'd figured it out for himself. She was still clinging to the hope that Aang had managed to save both himself and Katara. Though the longer and harder she searched the more she began to open her eyes to the facts.

There were a few options Aang would have had. Create an earth shield and put everything he had into making it withstand the tremendous force of the impact. You'd only have to make sure it held for a few seconds but that much earth hitting you that hard that fast.. well it would be like dropping a boulder on a shrimp-frog. The thought made Toph visibly cringe and since Sokka had been watching her intently in the hopes of getting some kind of information out of the girl, this subtle gesture forced him to believe the worst. The only thing that stopped him from breaking down right then was the fact that Toph was still all fours to the ground and appearing to be concentrating very hard on something. Surely if she'd found.. well she wouldn't be acting like this.

'He could have tried to stop the rock directly above them.' She mentally abused her own intelligence at that theory. It'd be just about the same outcome as her first theory. She silently cursed at Sokka for making her lose sight of Aang when she did. If she'd stayed watching for only a second longer she would have seen what he did.. or didn't do.. either way she'd know and wouldn't be going crazy right now theorising what could have happened.

Everything was so still. The only movement she could detect was the erratic beating of hers and Sokka's hearts.

Wait! Was that.. was that a cough?! Toph had been focusing so hard on the silence that the almost inaudible sound made her psychically jump. This made Sokka launch into a whole new barrage of questions. Toph withstood about three seconds of it until she barked back an order to shut up or eat dirt. Such verbal abuse would insult most people. But this coming from Toph meant she was back to being Toph, not the scared young girl she had been minutes before. 'She wouldn't say something like that now if she didn't think Aang and Katara were still alive.'

Sokka was slowly beginning to allow hope back into his heart.

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Toph strained her senses to pick up the noise again. She didn't want to let herself believe it was Aang, not yet. It could have just been a rock falling down a pile of debris. Surely if she could hear people screaming from deep within a mountain she'd be able to hear someone coughing.. 'Ahehk ahehk' Just like that she'd hear.. WAIT!

"A cough! That was a cough Sokka that was defiantly a cough!"

"A cough are you sure?!" Though by the time Sokka had finished asking the question Toph was charging up to blow a hole through the wall. Sokka made a very unco lunge at the girl and ended up taking her out at the legs causing Toph to land on top of him.

"What the hell Snoozles we gotta get in there."

"Yes but I'd prefer that you didn't kill us in the process. The whole roof just caved in Toph now I'm no architect but I'm willing to guess the supports in these walls aren't holding up so great after that."

"Oh.. right.. my bad." Feeling a little bit stupid for almost making such Sokka-like decision, Toph jumped to her feet and holding out a hand, helped the boy up.

"See if there's anyone outside the door." Toph only needed to take a second to see the coast was clear. The guys who'd been out there before must have taken off when they'd heard the rumbling, probably thinking the whole palace was coming down. Toph dropped the earthen door and stepped outside. She was almost whisked from her feet when Sokka grabbed her hand, pulling her around the corner and sprinting the short distance to the back door of the thrown room. As soon as they reached the door Sokka grabbed the handle and wrenched it open. He halted, letting go of Toph's hand and staggering backward.

"How could anyone survive this?"

Toph wasn't about to let Sokka's doubt ruin her elated mood. She'd heard coughing and you've gotta be alive to cough. Toph took Sokka's hand and with a slight tug, forced him to look at her instead.

"Aang and Katara could. Now come on lets find them."

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Authors Note: OMG APPA ATE MOMO! Wait.. I don't know what to write here so ima plug my fan art. Check it www . airwalker88 . deviantart . com I just posted a new pic and would really appreciate some feedback on it :) Cheers peeps


	18. Chapter 16

Holy crap muffins! It's been so damn long since I've updated this story. I haven't thought about it for ages but a recent review by Kataangloverforeverx got me thinking, 'wow people are still reading this fic! Maybe I should finish it for them' and that's what I intend to do. There's only a few chapters to go and hopefully I don't get sidetracked again.

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**Chapter 16**

Carefully scrambling over the piles of heavy stone, Toph made her way over to where she thought Katara had been lying. Sokka was following in silence, taking caution so as not to dislodge any large pieces that could cause more of the already utterly obliterated thrown room to collapse.

Toph came to a stop on a reasonably flat piece of debris which she figured would be close enough to where she remembered Katara had been. Kneeling down she took a quick moment to pray to Agni or Yue or whatever spirit would help her to find both Aang and Katara alive. Sokka stood a few meters away, too afraid to go any closer. He watched in terrified and hopeful silence as Toph placed her open palm to the stone. He closed his eyes and waited…

At first Toph thought she had misjudged her position. She could have sworn this was about where Katara and Aang would be. 'Sixth pillar from the back of the room on the left side about 10 paces in.' Toph could make out the base of the pillars easily enough as they were the only large perfectly round objects all in a straight line. She did another quick check to make sure she was where she thought she should be. 'They should be right here.' Placing her palm to the stone surface once more Toph sent more stronger, acute vibrations into the immediate area.

She was confused at first and then perplexed. She was sure she was reaching the floor beneath the rubble. The surface was hard and impenetrable. Moving the vibrations out a bit wider however she noticed something odd. The floor here seemed to be higher then it was a few meters away. Standing up and carefully walking a few paces to the right Toph knelt down and surveyed the area from another angle. The floor did infact raise up in an area about two meters in diameter and about one meter high… Big enough to cover two people.

It took Toph all of about one second to come to the conclusion that the only reason the floor would be raised would be if it had been done on purpose. Sending as sharp and strong a vibration that wouldn't cause the rock to actually break apart Toph confirmed her thoughts. The floor wasn't just raised. It was folded? Somehow Aang had managed to bend the floor up and over himself and Katara. 'How on earth did he do that?'

At that point she didn't care how and with an embarrassingly fangirly squeal she sprang forward and started digging. She knew by the difficultly that it took to see through the layer of rock that there was no risk at it caving in and she wasted no time in removing the debris that stood between her and the two benders trapped beneath.

To say Sokka was startled when Toph let out a rather girly shriek of excitement would be an understatement. He still had his eyes closed when he heard Toph get up and move to another position but he refused to open them. However they involuntarily flew open when Toph squealed. It took him a few moments to shake off the state of shock and surprise before he realized that the young earthbender was now about six meters to his left and digging furiously.

Sokka started to run forwards to help but after almost having his head taken off by a piece of flying debris the earthbender had accidently sent his way he opted to run around to in front of Toph instead. He knew there'd be no point in him even trying to move any of the rock as most of the pieces were the size of a full grown Rabbitroo.

"Watch out Snoozles!" Sokka had barely enough warning to jump back before the slab of stone he'd been standing on was lifted up and placed safely a few meters away.

It took Toph less than thirty seconds to clear away enough rock to fully uncover the raised surface that had hopefully protected her friends from getting crushed. Sokka came to stand by Toph and looked down at what he'd expected to be his sister and best friend.

"Where are they! I thought they were here wasn't that why you were digging!" "Calm down Meathead! They are here, they're under there." Toph exclaimed pointing downwards. She didn't need to see the look of confusion on Sokka's face to know that he hadn't quite caught on yet. "I have no idea how Aang did it I mean he only just got to Katara when the roof collapsed but I dunno he did this! He bended the floor over him and Katara like a blanket! It's genious!"

Toph climbed down into the newly formed crater in the debris to stand upon the smooth domed surface. She had thought it might be best to just get the rock out of the way first and then check and see if her friends were both alive. But at that moment standing there she didn't think she'd be able to handle it if one or both of them weren't alive. She had to know right now. Bending down she placed both palms on the cold surface.

Sokka had cautiously climbed down after Toph. He stood at the edge of the cleared debris and watched and waited. The next ten seconds were the longest of his life. Waiting for the blind earthbender to tell him his little sister and best friend were alive or… the thought clawed at his heart. A hundred thoughts bombarded his mind, the least of which… how would he tell his dad he'd failed to protect his sister? Clasping both his hands together and bringing them close to his face he closed his eyes and began to plead with the universe. "Please let them be alive, please let them be alive.."

"Sokka.." At hearing Toph's voice and the lack of any real tone to tell him whether she was about to give him good news or bad, Sokka reluctantly opened his eyes to meet the cloudy green of the young benders. Lowering his tightly clasped hands and taking a shuddering breath he asked the most important question he'd ever ask.

"Are they alive?"

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Gotta love cliff hangers :P So cliché but so necessary XD Thanks to everyone who is still following this story. I'm sure I peeved a lot of you off by leaving this story hanging for so long and I apologize profusely for doing so. Thanks for reading.


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